What should NOT be under source control?

Question

It would be nice to have a more or less complete list over what files and/or directories that shouldn\'t (in most cases) be under source control. What do you think should be

Answer 1

Actual config files such a web.config in asp.net because people can have different settings. Usually the way I handle this is by having a web.config.template that is on SVN. People get it, make the changes they want and rename it as web.config.

Aside from this and what you said, be careful of sensitive files containing passwords (for instance).

Avoid all the annoying files generated by Windows (thumb) or Mac OS (.ds_store)

Answer 2

I have a particular .c file that does not go in source control.

The rule is nothing in source control that is generated during the build process.

The only known exception is if a tool requires an older version of itself to build (bootstrap problem). In that case you will need a known good bootstrap copy in source control so you can build from blank.

Answer 3

files that get built should not be checked in

Answer 4

desktop.ini is another windows file I've seen sneak in.

Answer 5

Things that don't go into source control come in 3 classes

1. Things totally unrelated to the project (obviously)
2. Things that can be found on installation media, and are never changed (eg: 3rd-party APIs).
3. Things that can be mechanically generated, via your build process, from things that are in source control (or from things in class 2).

Answer 6

Anything that can be generated by the IDE, build process or binary executable process.